GUNS Magazine Digital April 2011

poor Mongol clan became history’s greatest conqueror—and perhaps history’s most beneficent ruler—or, why Genghis Khan and the Mongols have gotten such a bad rap and been painted as monsters in Western history, Professor Weatherford can answer your questions and tell the story in smashing style. Imperial Grunts by Robert D. Kaplan. The public eye has become fixed on our military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and the televised pronouncements of high-ranking dignitaries in soft suits. But, as Kaplan explains in a narrative filled with “spit and grit,” the interests of freedom are served worldwide by mostly very small units of quiet professionals, serving without the thanks or even the knowledge of the society they represent. Visit one of our three traveling showrooms at a dealer near you and get your hands on the hottest new products from today’s top manufacturers. Odd ANGRy ShOT “ ONCE yOU START READING 1776, yOU WIll NEED AND DEmAND UNDISTURbED TImE, AND yOU’ll CHAfE AT DISTRACTIONS.” From Yemen to Colombia and Sierra Leone to the Philippines, corporals make “handshake treaties” with khans, lieutenants teach tribesmen to fight terrorists and majors make diplomacy with sheiks, all the while hoping their own government won’t sell their successes down the river. Kaplan, who is a consummately factual reporter and a sorta modern Marco Polo, won’t disappoint you. See our 2011 show dates online at www.elitesportsexpress.com To book the ESE or get your products on board, call Don at 702-528-6771 The Last, Perhaps The Best 1776 by David McCullough. Maybe I saved the best for last; you can be the judge of that. But this one comes with a warning: Once you start reading 1776, you will need and demand undisturbed time, and you’ll chafe at distractions. McCullough’s research into the darkest, most perilous period in our fledgling nation’s history, and his delving into the personal and many times previously unpublished letters and papers of our patriot forefathers is incredible and richly rewarding. For me, the best thing about 1776 is that it does not define George Washington, Nathanael Greene, Henry Knox and others by their own words so much as it does by the personal observations of our common kin who left their farms and forges to follow them into battle; folks like 10-year-old Israel Trask, who describes how General Washington broke up a brawl on Harvard Yard. Buy two copies—you’ll need ’em! Connor OUT WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM G UN S MA G A ZINE O N LINE! w w w.gunsm agazine.com 87